Slough town 1-1 Hitchin

[3spirit]

One Hitchin fan sarcastically commented as we were walking out..."if you celebrate a home draw like that against us you must have problems".

 

Well why wouldn't we celebrate a decent result? We haven't always played well this season, we were playing the team at the top who are miles ahead of us on points, we went 1-0 down then had a player sent off. Furthermore our other main midfielder (Coyne) was unable to put a tackle in for the last 30 minutes or the referee would have sent him off as well. We battled superbly for the second half, nobody more so than our on loan keeper who put in an inspired performance to keep Hitchin out.

 

Hitchin were good as you'd expect. Right from even before the first day of the season it was obvious they'd be the team to beat. A good club with good people. I think their number 8 let them down today though.

 

Sean Byrne's challenge was two footed and you always run the risk of a red card when that happens. However, it doesn't always result in a red if you get the ball (which he clearly did) and if you are nowhere near any other player (which he wasn't). The Hitchin player came into the challenge much later than Sean Byrne then milked it for everything he was worth. It was a disgraceful piece of play acting that contributed directly to the refs decision to produced a red.

 

Going down a bit easily to win a free kick or a penalty I understand. That's all part of the gamesmanship and every team does that. Deliberately acting to get a player sent off is totally unacceptable however and I hope his team mates and manager take issue with it.

 

 

Couldn't agree more,Ian.

[Nathan]

This type of performance makes the games against Erith, Chippenham, Rugby, Burnham and Uxbridge all the more galling; the team CAN do it if they want to!

 

However, lets not let this lure us into a false sense of security. Looking at the bigger picture, we really needed all three points, especailly with Leighton Town, Rugby, Marlow and Daventry hot on our heels and with several games in hand. Yesterday was as good day as any to start beating the top sides in this division and although we came close, again we ultimately fell short.

 

This was a decent performance full of grit, determination, effort and passion that we have lacked in more than a few games this season. If we play like that against some of the "lower" teams, we will stuff them week in and week out becasue we DO have the ability to do so.

 

Message to the Slough players and management: let's have some more of this please!

[A Rebel and a Saint]

We even got a mention in the Daily Telegraph sport section yesterday too.

Link here

"Mark Smith feels as guilty as hell. At 43, this grand old defender, one of non-League football's listed monuments, still turns out religiously for Hitchin Town in the Zamaretto Division One Central. Only not at Slough Town, though. "

 

 

[Matt]

I've been away for a few weeks and have missed all the goings-on, including a 10-goal game (!) and the signing of Ben Porter, who I think on reputation at least will be a great signing, but I was very pleased to hear we'd got out of the Hitchin game with a point. They are clearly the best side in the division and are going to win the league. We won't have a more difficult fixture all season and have got both games out of the way now - shame we didn't have 11 men on the pitch for both or things may have been so different.

 

We may end up paying for that terrible run we went on, but overall I'm quite pleased with the league position although equally a bit disappointed we haven't kicked on from last season and given Hitchin more of a challenge. The squad has more than enough potential to climb the league and gain another playoff spot, which obviously now must be the only realistic aim.

 

Looking forward to getting back into it with the game at Ashford tomorrow evening.

 

Can I also say thanks to Tom and particularly to John Tebbit for covering the match reporting in my absence.

[Chris]

Seems Carl Williams thinks we'll be in the play-offs:

 

http://www.hitchintownfc.co.uk/articles/weekly_articles/20110111473680840576.shtml